Shorts created with generative AI tools have been flooding social media and vertical video platforms for a bit now. But a new example shows just how shitty things can be, as a stand-up comedian alleged that someone had used AI tools to rip off his joke using a fake AI-slop woman who is becoming quite popular on Instagram.
Tiffany Sloan is the name given to an AI-generated character that appears in numerous AI-slop Instagram Reels, often featuring her telling a joke in front of a fake audience. Some of these videos are very popular, with one stand-up clip hitting over 7 million views in just under two weeks. Here’s that video, which is a pretty good example of 90 percent of the content posted on the Sloan account.
Sloan’s creator is unknown, but what we do know is that this AI slop character has been gaining followers quickly on Meta’s social media platform. Since the account started posting on September 11, barely three weeks ago, it’s already garnered over 375,000 followers. Also, in that short amount of time, Sloan has posted 75 videos, most of which feature the AI character telling a joke. The problem is, some are claiming Sloan’s creator is stealing those jokes.
On October 3, comedian George Brett Olson shared a video comparing one of Sloan’s jokes to an excerpt from his own performance, and it’s clear that someone was, at the very least, inspired by not only Olson’s joke, but his outfit, too.
And not only is the Sloan account allegedly ripping off jokes, with Olson claiming that other comedians are having their jokes stolen as well, but the account is also monetizing all of the views and engagement it earns using this method of AI-powered joke theft. Olson also claims that someone, possibly the same person running the Sloan account, is stealing many of the same jokes but using different AI-generated women of various races. And all of this is because this is how the internet works now, thanks to companies like Meta.
Engagement is the main way to make money, and the bigger your numbers, the more money you can make. And with AI-generation tools, it’s now easier than ever for one person to flood multiple accounts with slop starring pretty women or weird people and make a ton of money in the process. In fact, thanks to the power of AI, Sloan can appear in clips with famous actors like Kaley Cuoco and Danny DeVito. And the creator behind Sloan can easily whip up a few variants of the same joke using different clothing and actors to see which one the algorithm rewards more. And if you really, really like Sloan, “she” even has an OnlyFans account.
This is our future, and it sucks. And we can blame it entirely on big tech companies not only making generative-AI tech but then creating structures that incentivize and financially reward people who use these same tools to flood the internet with stuff. What kind of stuff? Doesn’t matter, really. All that matters is that people click and watch. Maybe comment. If they do, the creator is rewarded and makes more content like that to feed the machine.
The future is going to be millions of these AI videos flooding every corner of your digital life, and the only thing that will break them up will be the gambling app ads starring famous actors and sports stars. And people like Mark Zuckerberg will be even richer by then, so at least someone is benefiting from all this slop and enshittifcation.
